Sean Penn is once again championing disaster relief after Venezuela was recently struck by a series of back-to-back earthquakes.
Through his humanitarian organization, Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE), the actor has launched a $5 million fundraising campaign to help support the country’s recovery. The initiative continues Penn’s long-running commitment to disaster response, which began with Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake.
Sean Penn is lending a helping hand to Venezuela after the country and parts of the Caribbean were recently devastated by a series of powerful earthquakes that left tens of thousands dead, injured, or missing.
The actor hopes to raise $5 million through “All With Venezuela,” an initiative launched under his humanitarian organization, CORE.
The campaign has already secured a lead donation of $500,000 from the FIFA Foundation, FIFA’s philanthropic arm, although no other major contributions have been announced. CORE plans to work with artists, athletes, creators, and philanthropists in the coming months to help raise the remaining funds needed to support Venezuela’s recovery.
Penn does enjoy a unique relationship with Venezuela, having developed a close relationship with Hugo Chávez after visiting the country in 2007. He has repeatedly defended the socialist leader and, after Chávez’s death in 2013, called him “a friend I was blessed to have.”
Penn’s CORE Draws On Previous Experience In Haiti
With its intervention in Venezuela, Penn hopes CORE can replicate the impact it made following Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake.
“Earthquake response and recovery have been part of CORE’s DNA since our founding in response to the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake,” Penn told The Hollywood Reporter. “This campaign is our chance to bring that same coalition of support to the Venezuelan people — to help us get families the resources they need, now.”
CORE CEO Ann Lee echoed that message in a video shared on the organization’s social media pages.
“We are committed here in Venezuela to be with the people and to make sure people make their way home to stronger, healthier communities,” Lee said. “We make this commitment to be here for the long term… to rebuild stronger and better than what was there before.”
Inside Sean Penn’s Relief Plan For Venezuela
On the campaign’s donation page, CORE outlines three key priorities for the funds it hopes to raise.
“The campaign focuses on three priorities: helping families recover and return home, rebuilding damaged community infrastructure, and supporting long-term economic and social recovery,” the organization said.
Some of the donations will fund hygiene kits containing essentials such as soap, toothpaste, shampoo, and insect nets. Other funds will provide weather-resistant shelters for displaced families, fuel for recovery equipment, and the heavy machinery needed to clear debris and rebuild affected communities.
Penn’s Disaster Work Extended To California
Penn and CORE also played a major role in supporting victims of the Eaton and Palisades wildfires that swept across Los Angeles County last year.
The organization provided $3.6 million in direct cash assistance to people with urgent needs while distributing more than 44,000 essential items, including hygiene kits and N95 masks.
CORE also operated a child-friendly space at the area’s largest shelter, removed more than 130 tons of debris from community infrastructure, and helped clean smoke-damaged homes.
Overall, the response reached more than 27,000 people, and the organization continues to support affected communities through its five-year recovery plan.
Sean Penn Says America Is Failing Ukraine
Penn’s humanitarian work has also taken him to Ukraine several times since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
During those visits, he provided financial assistance to people affected by the war and co-directed the documentary “Superpower,” which chronicles the conflict.
Despite those efforts, Penn believes the United States has not done enough to support Ukraine.
“We are failing Ukraine on the most catastrophic scale,” he told Vice News earlier this month. “And Ukraine’s not failing… I believe that the Ukrainians will dominate this defensive war that they’re fighting.”